Williamsburg Franchise Watch 2: UPS Store 2
It's a rare and wonderful thing to be able to name-check two of my own posts in one day. Thank god for the arrival of the UPS Store to the Williamsburg Franchise Watch. For those of you too engrossed in this paragraph to click away, the neighborhood of northside Williamsburg, former quiet hamlet of Polish and Italian families turned ruggedly-hip artist district, turned red-hot post-grad bobo wonderland, turned mezzanine-condominium Shangri-La, has begun cautiously to offer its storefront real estate to national franchise interests. This summer's entry, at the corner of North 5th and Bedford, a Subway sandwich shop, barely escaped the focused attention of the Williamsburg Warriors and now serves as the daytime post of local curmudgeon Leo Kowalski. A casual visual survey of the traffic at Subway (namely, whenever I walk by) indicates a relatively light customer base, though it is next door to a funeral parlor.
And then today, the UPS Store made its franchised intentions known on North 7th, just across from the notorious Finger Building. So far, there are a couple boxes and some papers strewn around inside. And this big banner. No hilariously ironic signage yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Oh, on that note, there's a Sparky's hot dog place opening up on Lafayette, between Houston and Bleecker. Just north of the aforementioned ironically-signed UPS Store. Coincidence or strange chain consipiracy? You make the call.
Posted by tangentialist at October 20, 2005 10:32 AM | more tangentialism
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Good. I can finally have a UPS place in which to scream in person to those cretins. How much longer until they realize that most of us AREN'T bonbon-popping housewives lounging in anticipation of the UPS delivery? This isn't a problem in itself until they tell you it's "impossible" to ship your package to the Manhattan service center, and that you will have to go to Maspeth to pick it up. They then "helpfully" suggest you send it to another address, and if you explain you cannot receive packages at work, they ask if a neighbor will sign...for Christsakes, it's a f*cking business, not a Community Effort. So please your customers!
Posted by: Curmudgeon at October 21, 2005 11:20 AM
the ups store also has mailboxes for rent and offers other services that a small business in the area will be glad to have. if i had a local, non-franchise copy place that could deal with 300+ pages and give me a discounted rate, I wouldn't be actually PLEASED about this. i am tired of having to take my copying into manhattan or driving it down to franchisestorethatwillnotbenamed or you will, apparently, run me out of the neighborhood, in downtown brooklyn. try copying a large document or getting reasonable copying service at the internet garage. right.
the thing that bothers me most about the ups store franchise is that they bought up most of the country's mom and pop private mailbox stores.
Posted by: dissenter at October 23, 2005 09:38 AM
For reasons I can't go into, I do need to rent a mailbox somewhere in the williamsburg area, since I am moving there and I can't use my new address. I have been looking on the internet for a good chunk today looking for area mailbox services, and I haven't found one yet. I am totally willing to go somewhere else... but is there somewhere else?? And if not, when is this UPS store opening?
Posted by: Kristina at January 15, 2006 02:18 PM
i hear it's opening in february. there are boxes at the post office on marcy, too.
Posted by: tangentialist at January 15, 2006 05:14 PM
Hi, I'm Stephen Jiranek. I own the UPS Store franchise on N7. I've lived in Williamsburg for a few years. I know how big of a pain it can be to get a package here. The store was actually the landlord's idea, and I was dying to get out of advertising, so It just kind of fit. I'm not a big corporate guy, but I honestly would not have known how to start a pack and ship place on my own. I hope it will be a good thing for the neighborhood. And I hope it will make some people's lives a little bit more hassle free. I hope you won't think I'm a soulless corporate person. I'm just a normal guy trying to bring something to the neighborhood that I hope people will like. If you come to the store I promise I will do my best to try and help you out. BTW we should be open for business this week.
Posted by: Stephen Jiranek at February 12, 2006 08:22 PM
